Sorry dude. You sounded pretty conspiratorial. Lies lies lies all in order to secure some kind of top-secret assets? My point was simply to try to see the obvious as being quite likely the primary motivation. There is more of a concern for avoiding certain outcomes than there is of gaining some kind of advantage outside of geopolitical stability - both in Egypt and in Libya. In the big picture the turn of events looks like a win-win for all of us. Is there some kind of bullshit going on as well? There always is. But there stands to be much less manipulation than in the past if the dictators fall.

Sorry to have upset you. I have no problem with you thinking differently. But I honestly have a hard time seeing clarity in your argument outside of seeing all kinds of conspiratorial machinations. Again - the complications are immense. Where this all ends up going is pretty hard to discern. But it does seem clear that the reach of the US as a superpower is far more limited than in the past, and the difficult task is going to be to come up with some means of international cooperation. I see that taking shape to some extent, and that leaves me hopeful, but cautiously so.